TYNGSBORO -- At her final meeting Thursday night as superintendent-director at Greater Lowell Technical High School, Mary Jo Santoro cautioned the School Committee about leaving the superintendent and assistant-superintendent-principal positions vacant after she and Robert Lussier leave the school June 30.

The committee began searching for its next superintendent in February, shortly after Santoro notified the committee she would not seek a contract extension after 35 years at the school, three of which she was superintendent.

After two meetings of discussion and 201 rounds of voting on the three finalists for the job, the committee remains deadlocked on its choice for superintendent.

With just over two weeks until Santoro and Lussier, who is retiring after 33 years at the school, walk out the door, Santoro told the committee there are daily operations that need a superintendent or principal's approval, by law.

The school cannot apply for any grants and new hires cannot be made without the approval of a superintendent or principal. Santoro said she is trying to fill as many vacant positions as she can before she leaves.

"The administrative team is anxious," she said. "They understand their roles and responsibilities. They are very bright people who will continue to do their work like they always do, but they also know there are limitations of things they are able to do."

"They're putting a Plan B into place," she added.

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The committee decided last week it would meet one more time to discuss and/or vote on the three finalists -- Paul Schlichtman, district coordinator of research, assessment and testing in the Lowell Public Schools, David Norkiewicz, technical director at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica and Superintendent-Director Ed Bouquillon at Minuteman High School in Lexington -- and immediately start looking for an interim superintendent. If a majority vote on the finalists is not reached by July 1, the committee will reopen the search.

Ray Boutin, of Lowell, filed a motion on the agenda to repost the interim superintendent position because he said he was concerned the candidates may have taken a different position. He withdrew the motion after several committee members felt the motion impeded on everyday operations that fall under the superintendent.

Thirty-five people applied for the assistant superintendent-principal position, Santoro said. A committee of teachers and administrators interviewed 15 people and three finalists were selected. One of those finalists accepted another position, so there are two finalists remaining.

Santoro stressed she had nothing to do with the process and has not been given the names of the finalists.

The intent was that the new superintendent would be able to hire an assistant superintendent from the narrowed list of finalists.

Victor Olson, of Dracut, said he would support the superintendent or interim superintendent's recommendation on an assistant superintendent, whether that person was chosen from the finalists or the superintendent conducted another search.

One of the challenges the new superintendent will face is improving morale.

After a state survey of staff found that morale rated below average of other schools in the state, Greater Lowell formed a Culture and Climate Committee to address some of the issues addressed in the survey.

Santoro gave an update Thursday night on the work of the committee. She said the committee wanted to conduct its own survey that went into more detail on issues raised in the state survey, however, some committee members who are involved in the teachers union said the Massachusetts Teachers Association's legal department found that questions in the survey about union leadership "were problematic and opened up the committee to potential legal action."

"It was disappointing to many of us because we were hoping to get to the meat of the matter from the initial survey. Now that won't happen," said Santoro.

"When you have a faction that's undermining the process, it interferes with getting a legitimate, valid result and that's really all we want," she said.

The committee is now drafting an action plan with goals to improve communication, create trust and mutual respect between administration and union leadership and increase information from administration to teachers.

Several committee members thanked Santoro and Lussier for their years of dedication to the school.

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